What does a dental technician do?
Dental Technicians manufacture dental prosthetics, such as crowns, bridges, and dentures in accordance with the dentist's specifications. They are also responsible for replacing, repairing, or modifying full or partial dentures.
Dental technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real dental technician resumes:
- Utilize 3-D scanning and printing software and hardware to create zirconia dental appliances.
- Take impressions and seat Invisalign aligners.
- Wax and/ or finish implants and substructures.
- Specialize in Invisalign but also apply braces when necessary.
- Fit and finish of FMC and PFM crowns and frameworks.
- Draft bridge superstructures, substructures and design precast concrete and structural steel bridges.
- Perform auxiliary tasks in the CAD/CAM dept., scanning stone models and data entry.
- Wax margins, opaque PFM, s and zirconium copings and create porcelain margins.
- Train to use CAD/CAM systems for designing, milling and finishing of custom mill devices.
- Learned how to trace margins on models of tooth preparations on a digital scanner and mill zirconia crowns.
- Accommodate emergency denture repairs and relines.
- Adjust temporary full/partial dentures and both temporary and permanent crowns.
- Organize post-operative treatment with dentist assessing patients need for any dental prosthesis.
- Establish a compassionate environment by providing emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to patients.
- General administrative office duties, insurance and patient billing and deliver dentures to surrounding dental practices.
Dental technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 38% of Dental Technicians are proficient in Patients, Dentures, and Dental Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Technical skills, Interpersonal skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Dental Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 38%
Assisted dentist in performing surgical and post-operative procedures Educated patients about post-operative care Completed patient charts
- Dentures, 17%
General administrative office duties, insurance and patient billing and delivered dentures to surrounding dental practices.
- Dental Care, 17%
Functioned as clinical or specialty technicians, dental administrative personnel and dental care providers at dental treatment facilities.
- Prosthetics, 12%
Fabricated quality prosthetic denture products in accordance with established protocols.
- Dental Lab, 3%
Enhanced dental laboratory reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different request.
- Cad Cam, 2%
Designed and milled Lava crowns using Cad Cam technology.
Most dental technicians use their skills in "patients," "dentures," and "dental care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential dental technician responsibilities here:
Technical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a dental technician to have is technical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "dental and ophthalmic laboratory technicians and medical appliance technicians need to understand how different tools and materials work." Dental technicians often use technical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "pursued technical certification at southern college while working part-time in private lab constructing dental appliances. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform dental technician duties is interpersonal skills. Dental technicians responsibilities require that "dental and ophthalmic laboratory technicians and medical appliance technicians must be able to work effectively with others." Dental technicians also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "answered phone calls, collected payments and handled deposits upon customer service while greeting customers with excellent interpersonal communication skills. "
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of dental technicians is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday dental technician duties, as "dental and ophthalmic laboratory technicians and medical appliance technicians must follow work orders and prescriptions precisely." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "applied precision and detail in the design, construction, repair and adjustment of dental appliances and fixtures. "
Dexterity. A big part of what dental technicians do relies on "dexterity." You can see how essential it is to dental technician responsibilities because "dental and ophthalmic laboratory technicians and medical appliance technicians must work well with their hands to use precision instruments." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical dental technician tasks: "used professional customized creativity, and excellent manual dexterity. "
The three companies that hire the most dental technicians are:
- Aspen Dental55 dental technicians jobs
- DCS25 dental technicians jobs
- Geisinger Medical Center3 dental technicians jobs
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Compare different dental technicians
Dental technician vs. Dental laboratory worker
With great attention to detail, a finishing technician must have the ability to use all the machinery provided to finish a job. Finishing technicians must work long hours on sketches, blueprints, and other specifications. They must execute quality work to deadlines and adapt to changes that might occur between process implementations. They are responsible for training staff on machines and troubleshooting when issues arise. They are also responsible for quality control on finished products.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, dental technician responsibilities require skills like "patients," "dental care," "prosthetics," and "dental lab." Meanwhile a typical dental laboratory worker has skills in areas such as "acrylic +," "cad," "military training," and "rotational schedule." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that dental laboratory workers earn slightly differ from dental technicians. In particular, dental laboratory workers are 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a dental technician. Additionally, they're 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dental technician vs. Crown and bridge technician
Each career also uses different skills, according to real dental technician resumes. While dental technician responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "dental care," "prosthetics," and "cad/cam," crown and bridge technicians use skills like "osha," "repair orders," "shop drawings," and "plc."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Crown and bridge technicians tend to reach similar levels of education than dental technicians. In fact, they're 3.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dental technician vs. Dental ceramist
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from dental technician resumes include skills like "patients," "dental care," "prosthetics," and "patient care," whereas a dental ceramist is more likely to list skills in "lava," "finesse," "quality products," and "spatulas. "
Most dental ceramists achieve a similar degree level compared to dental technicians. For example, they're 4.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dental technician vs. Finishing technician
Types of dental technician
Updated January 8, 2025
